See Also: Early(medicine)
early(1)(dictionary)
early(2)(dictionary)
Early-Out - Blackjack(gambling)
early gene(medicine)
Early withdrawal(money)
early labour(medicine)
immediate-early proteins(medicine)
Early distribution(money)
early reaction(medicine)

early(1) (iou)



early adjective & noun. ME.
[from the adverb, after Old Norse arligr.]
A. adjective.
Designating, belonging to, or existing, occurring, etc., near to the beginning of a period of time, as the morning, the day, the evening, the year, a lifetime. ME.
W. Cowper Our most important are our earliest years. H. James She had come up..by an early train. Day Lewis My earliest memory is a smell of bacon. I. Murdoch Women pick up these conventions at such an early age. U. Bentley In the early hours of the next morning.
Designating, belonging, or relating to the initial stage of an epoch, of a person's development, of the history of a people, of the world, of a science etc.; ancient. L17.
J. Bonnycastle Astronomy is a science of the earliest antiquity. Ld Macaulay Early fathers of the Church. P. G. Wodehouse The gruesome Early Victorianness of it all.
Near the beginning in serial order. E18.
Oxford English Dictionary The early chapters of the book. L. Hellman Mr. Goldwyn was in his early fifties when we first met.
Connected with the initial part of any division of time, continuous action, etc.; occurring before it is too late; arriving, occurring, etc., before the usual or expected time. In compar. & superl., former, foremost, first (in time). M18.
B. Gooch This consideration shou'd engage our earliest..attention. Ld Macaulay Henry Wharton..whose early death was soon after deplored by men of all parties. A. Christie The train couldn't have been ten minutes early. J. F. Lehmann An elation I had not known since the early days at The Hogarth Press. I. Murdoch Dark..clumps of green betokened the early tulips. Financial Times It is still too early to predict how far they will get.
b. Of a future date or event: not remote, near at hand. M19.
D. Livingstone There being no prospect of an early peace.
Phrases & special collocations: early closing orig. (usu. attrib.), the reduction of the daily hours in certain trades; now, the closing of business premises at the end of the morning on a certain day of the week. early days early in time for something (to happen etc.). early doors adverbial phr. (colloq.) [app. orig. with ref. to admission to a music hall some time before the start of the performance] early on, esp. in a game or contest. Early English Architecture the first stage of English Gothic (13th cent.) with pointed arches, lancet windows, and simple tracery. early grave an untimely or premature death. early hours the hours immediately after midnight. early leaver a pupil who leaves school without completing the session or the full course of study. early music: of the earliest times up to and including the Renaissance. early night a night when one goes to bed before the usual time. early purple orchid, early purple orchis a common spring-flowering woodland orchid, Orchis mascula, with purple flowers. early retirement: from one's occupation before the statutory age, esp. in return for a financial consideration. early riser a person who habitually gets up early from bed. early spider orchid: see spider orchid s.v. SPIDER noun. early STIRRER. early warning: esp. of missile attacks. early wood the less dense inner part of the annual ring of a tree. keep early hours rise and retire early. take an early bath colloq. (a) be sent off in a game; (b) fail early on in a race or contest. the early bird: see BIRD noun.
b. ellipt. as noun.
Early morning; an early occasion. Usu. in superl.: at the earliest, in the earliest possible eventuality. LME.
Shakespeare Othello To-morrow with your earliest Let me have speech with you.
An early fruit or vegetable. Usu. in pl. M19.
In pl. Early years or days. E20.
earlily adverb M17-E18.
earliness noun L16.
earlyish adjective & adverb somewhat early; early on: M19.